Early voting turnout for general election hits record of 31.28%

Early voter turnout reached a record 31.28 percent, the state-run election watchdog said, as the two-day period to cast advance ballots ahead of the April 10 general election wrapped on Saturday.

People line up to cast their votes at a polling station at a welfare center in Yeonsu District, Incheon, on Saturday, the second and final day of the early voting period for Wednesday’s general election. [YONHAP]

Early voter turnout reached a record 31.28 percent, the state-run election watchdog said, as the two-day period to cast ballots ahead of the April 10 general election wrapped up on Saturday.

A total of 13,849,043 out of 44,280,011 eligible voters cast their ballots, according to the National Election Commission (NEC), by the time early voting for Wednesday's parliamentary elections came to a close at 6 p.m.

Over Friday and Saturday, early ballots were cast from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 3,565 polling stations nationwide.

This marks the first time early voting turnout for legislative elections surpassed 30 percent since the country introduce the system in 2014.

Turnout this year is 4.59 percentage points higher than the 2020 general election at 26.69 percent, and an increase of 19.09 percentage points compared to the 2016 general election, which came to 12.19 percent.

In comparison, early voting turnout for the 2022 presidential election reached a record high of 36.93 percent. However, turnout for legislative elections is generally lower than for presidential elections.

"Participation in early voting is increasing due to voting efficacy, through which voters believe that their ballots can greatly affect the outcome of the election," an NEC official said. "The early voting rate has also increased with the transparent disclosure of the election process, increasing the reliability of advance voting."

On Friday, many political heavyweights cast their ballots in advance. President Yoon Suk Yeol, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and other members of the Cabinet voted early, as did former President Moon Jae-in.

Likewise, leaders of major and splinter political parties including liberal Democratic Party (DP) Chairman Lee Jae-myung, conservative People Power Party (PPP) interim chief Han Dong-hoon, the Saemirae Party's Lee Nak-yon, the Reform Party's Lee Jun-seok and the Rebuilding Korea Party's Cho Kuk all cast their votes on the same day.

Both the DP and PPP claimed that the higher early voting rates will work in their favor. Traditionally, high early voting turnout has worked in favor of liberals, but the last presidential election broke that trend, with PPP candidate Yoon beating DP candidate Lee Jae-myung by a razor-thin margin.

By region, South Jeolla saw the highest early voting turnout at 41.19 percent, followed by North Jeolla and Gwangju. Daegu had the lowest early voting turnout at 25.6 percent.

In the metropolitan area, Seoul saw a 32.63 percent turnout, Gyeonggi 29.54 percent and Incheon 30.06 percent.

Voters line at a polling station at a community center in Jamsil in Songpa District, southeastern Seoul, on Saturday, the second and final day of the early voting period for Wednesday’s general election. [NEWS1]

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]